Maverick Specialized, LLC - North Little Rock, Ar.

TurboTrucker & Brickman: I started this thread several months ago, and actually posted it to The Inside Scoop discussion board, with the subject as: "Maverick Specialized vs. Maverick Transportation". I’m not sure how it got moved to the Report a Bad... discussion board, but that is when others started voicing their own complaints. I’m not sure what TBird’s tipping point was, but I am reaching mine. And TBird – if you are still listening, I, for one, would like to know what was the straw that prompted you to quit Specialized.

I chose Maverick because of its great reputation, and I know the Flatbed Division has many happy drivers. But drivers considering a future with Maverick really need to know that Specialized is run like an entirely separate company. Even when I have called Little Rock directly to try and resolve a problem, I am told “that is handled through…”, or “you need to call Specialized for that”. If Specialized had responded to me in the first place, it wouldn’t have been necessary to call Little Rock.

TurboTrucker, you wanted facts only. Here are some that everyone can chew on.

Let me start by saying that I have tried going to the top twice. Both times I have sent e-mails that were calmly presented, with detailed facts. One email was about being forced to exceed 70 hours in order to make a delivery to Canada – even though I advised the STL I would not have enough hours. Then, after the load was dropped and I was 2 hours over the 70, I was ordered – and I do mean ordered – to pick up two backhauls. By the time I could take the 34-hour reset, I was at 84 hours. I copied all of the macros that involved those loads, and sent them by email with my complaint. I can’t say what happened to the STL or CSR that forced the loads on me, but the result for me was a written notice of HOS violation.

Specialized Division trailers are old, broken down and faulty. To accommodate backhauls, converters are required, and to break down a converter from glass for the backhaul takes about 2 hours - if it is in good repair. 90% of the time something is wrong that can take up to 4 hours to repair - and for that we receive an additional $20. I have red-tagged every converter that I have taken back to the yard, and have picked up the same trailer later, with the same thing still wrong. I started making phone calls and sending emails to the STL, when I red-tagged a trailer, in hopes that something would actually be done to repair them, but I continue to red-tag almost every trailer I drop at the yard.

Very seldom is a day shorter than 14 hours, and typically I have reached my 70 hours in 5/6 days, with very little time to spare on Friday waiting at the Laurinburg terminal to pickup a load to get me “through” home on the weekend. I have waited in Laurinburg as long as 14 hours for a load, and have learned not to log On-Duty until the load is ready to roll. It is not unusual to arrive home in the early morning hours on Saturday, with just 34-hours, if I am to make on-time delivery Monday morning. There has only been one time I have arrived home before 10:00pm on a Friday night, even though I typically arrive in Laurinburg Thursday night.

Support is extremely lacking. One example in particular is a Friday I thought I was given a good load. Rather than Laurinburg, I picked up in Ohio, with delivery to a plant only 80 miles from home. It was looking like I would actually make it home in time for Friday happy hour - a first since starting with Maverick. Because the Shipper was late loading, I sent a macro advising STL and CSR I would be one hour late for delivery appointment, and requested they contact consignee (we are not allowed to do so). When I arrived for delivery, I was told they had never heard from CSR or STL, and since I had missed appointment, would have to wait for opening. As the night drug into the early morning hours, I sent several macros and made several phone calls to Maverick's second shift, requesting help with speeding up the unload process. When I had only 1-1/2 hours left on the 70 (just enough time to make it home), I made one final phone call requesting that I be allowed to drop trailer, head home, and pick-up trailer Monday morning. Request was denied, and I was ordered to stay at Consignee and take 10-hour break. In summary: Arrived at shipper 5:00 PM; waited until 3:00 AM for unload. Logged 5:00PM to 3:00 AM as 10-hour, and made it home in time for morning coffee.

I have been tracking my averages and here are some of the results:

• A typical work week averages 79 actual hours in five days, even though I only log an average of 62 hours on-duty. While waiting at shippers/consignees, I log off duty, so I can save hours to make it through home for my reset. Home is 7 hours from the Laurinburg terminal, and there are times I have just enough hours to make it home before the 70 runs out.
• I deliver 2 to 3 loads a week, with average hours spent actually driving at 45.5 hours. Average on-duty time is 16.5 hours (either load/unload or repairing faulty trailers), and average off-duty (waiting) time is 17 hours. That means 21.5% of my week is spent waiting at shippers/consignees. I can’t increase my drive-time, because it will mean exceeding the 14.
• With all of the waiting spent at shippers/consignees, my average miles per week are about 2100. I have seen Flatbed division drivers quote an average of 2400 miles per week, and some as high as 2800. So, even though Specialized pays 1 cent more per mile, the Flatbed division drivers actually make more, with less aggravation. (2100 x .41 = $861; 2400 x .40 = $960)

In the seven months I have been with Specialized, I have had to take the 34-hour reset at a truck stop 4 times, and have spent 9 weekends away from home – 70% home time – not the 97% Maverick has the reputation for. I’m not entirely sure if this is the result of poor scheduling, or the lack of drivers to cover loads. With all of the drivers quitting, I’m guessing it is a combination of both, and an endless cycle.

While I’m sure there are growing pains, the people at the top have responded to the problems - not by demanding better of the Specialized STL’s and CSR’s - but, rather, by writing a different Policy Manual for the Specialized Division – just released last month. Here is a quote from the new Specialized Division manual:

TIME AT HOME POLICY​

1. In case of family emergencies, you will get home as soon as possible.
2. An over the road driver can expect to stay out for about 12 days at a time
3. Every 12 days we will get you through home for approximately 48 hours
4. For a major event in your immediate family, such as a wedding or graduation, give us proper notice and will work to get you home.

They have even changed their website, to reflect the new policy. Now there are two separate web pages for the Flatbed vs. Specialized division. Check out their website (drivemaverick). If you choose the link for the Flatbed Division, and look at the Benefits listed on the left side, you will see: “97% of fleet home weekends”. But if you look at the Specialized Division, the Benefits read: “Great Home Time”. Another difference is the $52,500 1st year average with the Flatbed Division. The Specialized Division doesn’t make that claim - most likely because it is impossible with only 2100 miles per week.

Maverick has had seven months to resolve the problems and growing pains associated with the purchase of a new company. Rather than demand better of the people responsible for the growing number of empty trucks, they have chosen to penalize the drivers. Until they choose to fully incorporate Specialized into Transportation, and insist on STLs and CSRs with the same competence and support offered to the Flatbed Division, they will not be able to keep drivers in the Specialized Division.

And, TurboTrucker, that is the future of Maverick’s reputation.

 

I have not approached the possibility of transferring to the Flatbed Division, as the general movement in the company is to encourage Flatbed drivers to transfer to Specialized.

Tbird, thanks for sharing your experience. I started with your STL, and insisted on a transfer from his board after only one month. I have heard numerous complaints about him - yet he remains. In my 7 months with Specialized, I have been on the board of 4 different STL's. The best week I had with the company, in terms of scheduling and support was with an STL that was let go a week after I was moved to his board. Was told the reason was cutbacks, and he was low man on the totem pole - bad business decision. Decision should have been based on competence, and your STL should be looking for a new job right now.

TurboTrucker, I checked some of your other posts, and see that your assessment of Maverick's safety rating was taken from SafeStat and ISS-D ratings. Unfortunately, the ISS-D is only a snapshot view that changes monthly. It would be helpful if they chose to show the history of the ISS-D along with the SEA scores.

I first started tracking Maverick's SafeStat and ISS-D rating the end of December, to compare with other companies I was considering. At that time (12/22/06) the ISS-D rating for Maverick Transportation was a 93, and Specialized a 32. The three divisions were operating under separate DOT numbers. Effective January 7, all three were merged under one DOT number, with a 30-day transition period. So, the 1/26/07 ISS-D had no score, based on insufficient information. Now the 2/23/07 score for Maverick Transportation is 36. Based on the methodology used to generate the scores (rolling off after 30 months & averaging number of power units), Maverick Transportation is able to take advantage of the fact that Specialized only had 7 months of history, and their power units aren't included in the current average. I'm sure you will see the score start to climb each month.

Since you compared Maverick's score of 36 to TMC's score of 97, I have taken a look at both. If you compare the monthly History of Driver Inspection Indicator, you will see that TMC and Maverick are very close - in fact TMC is a couple of points lower, but is unquestionably higher than Maverick's Vehicle Inspection Indicator. What is hurting TMC's ISS-D indicator and SafeStat score is the Compliance review they had in March 06, that won't roll off for 18 months. Maverick has not had a compliance review since 1994, and I have no doubt that were they to have a compliance review today, their score would be greatly affected.

I have downloaded the data for both companies, and run a comparison, using only the period 7/1/06 to 12/31/06, where both companies were static: Mav Spec is not included in calculations, and TMC's compliance review is removed: Here are the comparisons:

Maverick - 1001 power units

Driver Inspections: 369.
Inspections with OSS violations: 30 - 8.13% of Drivers inspected
Moving Violations: 89 - 8.89% of drivers
Vehicle Inspections: 226
Vehicles with OSS violations: 16 - 7.08% of vehicles inspected
Non-Injury Accidents: 9 - 0.9% of total vehicles
Injury Accidents: 14 - 1.4% of total vehicles
Fatal Accidents: 3 - 0.3% of vehicles​

TMC - 2751 power units

Driver Inspections: 1621.
Inspections with OSS violations: 83 - 5.12% of Drivers inspected
Moving Violations: 201 - 7.31% of drivers
Vehicle Inspections: 962
Vehicles with OSS violations: 163 - 16.94% of vehicles inspected
Non-Injury Accidents: 54 - 1.96% of total vehicles
Injury Accidents: 17 - 0.62% of total vehicles
Fatal Accidents: 2 - 0.07% of vehicles​

Applying the methodology and severity weighting used to generate the ISS-D to only the six static months, the final score would be: Maverick 41.20 and TMC 42.27. So, keep watching. I'm sure you will see Maverick's ISS-D rating start to climb.